Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-02-20
A SOCIAL DIFFICULTY


On Tho table with the air OF man VINO
Sss made his mind up and viii hear
s~ suyther nonsense from anybody
about IT, ~, L.
dec;siyely. "He's been acquitted, and
that is SO far satisfaciory-to q certain
extent grant You, satisfactory;
hnmanlv speaking, IL was almost Inn
,.oss;lJc that he could be acquitted.
m sy;denoe didn't suffice to convince
,hc 80 court-mar,ial. I'm glad OF 1t, very
Glad Of Il. of course, for poor iriss
sake but, upon my word, Charlotte, !
conf imagine how on earth they couid
,~~r have found it in their consciences
~ acou;, him. In my opinion-hu-
manly speaking, once more---its moral,
" certain that Captain bnrpury m'n .si
cmbczzlcd every penny 'ol MI 'nA'
NM NJ: Bandreth turned the telegram
oro, ncryouslv. with two big tears
.,and;nc ready TO fall in the corners OF
49, AGAR motherly old eyes, and then
nstod in n timid voice, 80 you We
nit decided, have You, Arthur ,na'
!, rnnst be All broken off between nm
and poor Iris ? 81, -, 1890.
The Bishop played with his paper
knife half stuck through the Guar :,
J,on in his testy fashion. My DEAR
mo answered. with the natural impa,,
tience of Just man unduly PROVOKED
by female persistence, "howls II posi-
be. put It to You, that we c0uld ever
dream of letting her marry HIM L
don't wish to judge him harshly-far
he II from me to Judge any man
hone / understand my duty rs Gins
tan better; but still, Charlotte, ITS
one Of our duties, you know-an I'M
pheasant duty, but none the less
duty on that account-not TO shut
our ewes against plain facts: We are
;ntnsted with the safekeeping OF our
daughters happiness, and l say we
ouChtpt 10 allow her to imperll IT 10y
throwing herself away upon man
whom we strongly suspeet-upon Just
grounds-to be quite unworthy OF her.
I'm sorry that We must give lrls so
mncb pain 4: but our duty, Charlotte,
our duty, ] say, lies clear before us.
The yorng man himself sees 1t. What
more wonld Won wish, / wonder?"
Mrs. Brandreth sighed quietly, and
LET the two tears roll unperceived down
her placid, gentle, fair old face. The
court-martial has taken a more lement
view of the case. Arthur" she sug-
gested tentatively, after pause OF a
few minutes
The Bishop looked up from the table
of contents Of the Guardian with a
forcedly benign glance of Christian
forbearance. Women will be women,
of course, and viii sympathize with
daughters and so forth in all their fool
ish matrimonial entanglements. My
dear. he explained, with his practiced
episcopal smile of gentle cOndescension
70 the lower intelligence of women
and of the inferior clergy, "you
must rocollect that the court-mar-
tIal had to Judge of legal proof
and legal certainty. Moral proof
and moral certainty are, OF course,
quite another matter. | might hesitate
on the evidence given to imprison this
Young man or even to deprive him of
his commissio' in the army; and yet
might heita,, on the very same
grounds to let him take my daughter in
marriage. He has been acquitted, it Is
tine. of the charge, but a suspicion,
Charlotte, certain vague shadow OF
formal suspicion, must always III future
hang over him like a cloud. Caesar
wife-vou remember the Roman dicta-
tor said. Caesars wife must be above
suspicion. Surely, if even heather
Thought that, we, Charlotte, with all our
privileges ought to be very careful on
what sort of man we bestOw Iris.
And having thus summarily dismiss
ed the matter the Bishop turned with
profound interest TO the discussion ON
The evil consequences of the burials bill
and the spread of dissent i'll the West
Of England.
TO mind deeply engrossed with
these abstruse and important subjects
the question about poor lris's relations
with Captain Burbury, of the Hun
dred-and-Fiftieth, was, of cou.Se, re,
latively small one. Iris, indeed, had
never been engaged to him; that was 8
great comfort in all this ugly, un
pleasant business. Theyoung man mad
only buzzed little around the episco
pal palace at Winchester, danced will
her. talked to her, and arrived at
slight private understanding whici
didn't exactly amount to a regular en-
Cagemeut. and which had never been OF
tcallv communicated to the parenta
ear That, at least, was great com
iort the Bishop considered 1t almos
Irovidential. Since this awkward
question about the deficiency IN the AID
infants accounts had first arisen, to b'
sure. the Bishop had learned from Mrs
Rrandreth that this young man Che al
WAYS spoke of Harry Burbury IN tina
oLiiQue fashion, had succeeded IL
making passing impression upon poo
Iriss unbcstowed affections. But theI
girls. You see, are always fancyint
themselves in love with some youns
man or other and are always profound
" convinced for the time being tina
they can never conceivably be happ.
without him. We, my dear Mr.. Deal
Ct my dear Sir William, who are mel
OF the world mean, who are person
Of maturer years and more solid under
standing-we know very well that II
six months or so girls forget all abou
that nice Mr.. Blank or that dear Cap
tain Somebody in their last passinl
fancy for young So-and-so, who vii
in due time be equally forgotten III ia
vor Of some more really desirable AM
eligible person. AS in this case Their
would be no public withdrawal, II
open breach Of an announced engage
inent, DIR. Brandreth turned comple
Gently TO the discussion on the burial
bill. and in ten minutes had completed
dismissed from his profound episcopt
mind -the whole subject OF Captai
Rnrbury's unfortunate court-martial.
Meanwhile Mrs. Brandreth, who wa
not philosophical like the Bishop, br
who felt herself most imprudently syn
pathetic with all dear lris's little girls
ieelings--quite wickedly 50, she va
almost afraid-Mrs. Brandreth, sa,
had stolen away quietly to her dsugi
ters room, and was sitting on the hit
couch at the foot of the bed, with lIls
hand. held fast in hers, and lris's so
crimson check laid tenderly on Ia
Sffhara Their